EnkelvsEnkelinWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“Enkel” and “Enkelin” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#6,291
“Enkel” frequency rank
#15,872
“Enkelin” frequency rank
22163
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Enkel Enkelin
Definition (männliches) Kind des eigenen Sohnes oder der eigenen Tochter weibliches Kind von Sohn oder Tochter (Kindes-Kind) oder weibliche Nachfahrin der zweiten Generation

Where the eye mixes Enkel and Enkelin

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Enkel runs 5 letters (VCCVC) against Enkelin's 7 (VCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
Enkel
7 ch
Enkelin

Visual trap between Enkel and Enkelin

A purely visual mix-up. Enkel ([ˈɛŋkl̩]) and Enkelin ([ˈɛŋkəlɪn]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “Enkel” sits inside “Enkelin”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22163, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Enkel is recorded at frequency rank #6,291, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈɛŋkl̩]. Enkelin is at rank #15,872, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈɛŋkəlɪn].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 22163, this pair ranks #1,877,544 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Enkel vs Enkelin

Shared letters: ekln. Private to "Enkel": -. Private to "Enkelin": i.

"Enkel" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC  ·  "Enkelin" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Enkel ← eknel · enekl · enkell · enkkel · enkle · ennkel · nekel
  • Enkelin ← eknelin · eneklin · enkeiln · enkelinn · enkellin · enkelni · enkkelin · enklein

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Enkel" for "Enkelin" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈɛŋkl̩] versus [ˈɛŋkəlɪn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Enkel" vs "Enkelin" - which ranks higher?
"Enkel" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,291 in our German list, against #15,872 for "Enkelin". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Enkel" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Enkelin" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,877,544 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Enkel" and "Enkelin" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ekelig vs Enkelin". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #1,877,544 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list